Nick Marshall's leadership 'tremendous,' teammate says

AUBURN -- After Thursday's practice, Gus Malzahn posed a question to his team: Did they need an extra "pace" period of practice?

Tight end C.J. Uzomah jokingly described the non-stop action period for the offense as "the worst thing."

According to Uzomah, quarterback Nick Marshall said, "yeah, we need another pace period. Let's do two."

His teammates were dismayed.

"We were like, "Uh … Nick, what are you doing?'" Uzomah said. "But that just shows his drive, his willingness to win, and as much as we dreaded it, we needed it and that's kind of what he said: We've got to be pumped up about this, the pace is what our edge is, that's what we thrive on, that's what our MO is. So I think as far as a leadership standpoint, he's exactly where we want him to be."

Uzomah hailed Marshall's leadership as "tremendous." Auburn's quarterback has become more vocal, particularly compared to last summer when Marshall was first winning the starting job.

"He said that he'd get back on track, that's what he told the team, and that's what he's done," Uzomah said. "He hasn't missed a beat with anything we've been doing."

Marshall texts the running backs and receivers to throw outside of practice.

"We're out there, and we're throwing, and he wants to perfect it," Uzomah said. "Jeremy (Johnson)'s out there and Sean (White) was out there. In terms of, he grew a lot last year and it's just him taking another step."